Yonderly

I wanted to like this book. It had everything going for it--goblins, magic, kidnappings! Not to mention, someone had mentioned that the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy was their favorite series. I suppose I was hoping for something that grabbed me like Finnikin of the Rock or in the very least charmed me like a Gail Carson Levine tale. Alas, I almost gave up on it in the beginning chapters.

The first chapter felt much longer than it was, and I just wasn't interested. There was really no hook, and I couldn't empathize with the sisters. The youngest, Emily, was so ridiculous that I almost hoped something bad would happen to her. I'm starting to think she was much younger than I originally thought, because she acts like a silly 8-year-old, though I could have sworn she was supposed to be about 13.

The following chapters dragged on slowly, and Kate blunders along, never realizing the obvious. Every "twist" was completely predictable. I lost what respect I had for Kate when she fails to recognize an enemy even when someone clearly warns her about him/her. The whole thing was just…*face palm*

The story picked up midway through, when Kate first enters the Goblin Kingdom. The plot actually becomes more compelling, but for me, it was too little, too late. If Dunkle had spent less time on the exposition (when Kate and sister flounder around, crying, "What do we do??") and more time on the goblin world and affairs, this would have been much more interesting. I also wish the story was less tame, though I believe Dunkle was aiming more for a middle grade audience. So that would explain why the romance was brushed over, and it would also explain why Kate never worried about the whole sex aspect of producing an heir.

The writing was mediocre, though Dunkle did include some nice description. I know the phrase "Show, don't tell" is thrown around a lot, but the telling in this story was a big issue. Especially when it came to emotions. It was always, "She was alarmed," "She was frightened," "She was uneasy," and so on. Another thing that bothered me was that the story took place in England, perhaps in the late Regency era or in Victorian times (it was never made entirely clear), but the two sisters were entirely too modern. I understand that in historical fiction you need to modernize a characters to a certain extent so that audience can relate, but you also need to retain a certain level of realism. I wish Dunkle had read up on the time period.

The Hollow Kingdom certainly wasn't the worst book I've read, but I was disappointed. I may read the sequels since I had no qualms with the last half of the book...If you want to read a similar, yet vastly different story about stolen brides, I recommend picking up Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jenson. The protagonist is kidnapped by trolls, but let me tell you, these aren't your stereotypical leathery trolls. The only drawback to reading it now is that the next book doesn't come out until the spring of 2015!

Add it to your Goodreads shelves!

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jenson

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Emily is a student chasing the writerly lifestyle and blogging along the way.